


Endeavors

by plainjayme



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Major Character Injury, i love my bisexual icon, i love my tired lesbian, it's not her fault i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-01 18:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15779799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plainjayme/pseuds/plainjayme
Summary: A battered Elastigirl shows up on recently released from prison Evelyn Deavor's doorstep and the world think she's dead. A new villain has climbed to the top to finish what Evelyn started, and it seems to be all her fault.





	1. A Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> I would die for my girls. I've been wanting to write something for awhile but never got around to it. This is the first thing I've written in awhile so please give feedback if you can. I'd love to know what you think and to see if this thing is worth my time. Welcome to the shit show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr. I post chapter updates and blog about my girls and more
> 
> plainjayme.tumblr.com

The front door to the Deavor estate slammed open suddenly in the early hours of the morning. Paintings that hung on the wall shook with the force of Evelyn Deavor's entrance into her home for the first time in months. The doorknob struck the wall and created a small, round dent in the neutrally-colored surface behind the door. She dropped her bags unceremoniously to the floor. If possible, the genius's trademark bags under her eyes seemed more defined as her icy blues scanned the room.

No lights were on. The inventor sluggishly dragged herself over to the kitchen where she ran a thin finger on the counter top. Her fingertip was covered in dust. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath of the musty air. There was no sign of anybody being there probably since she was incarcerated.

"Figures," Evelyn muttered in annoyance to herself. She reached above on her tip toes to the cabinet overhead to grab a bottle of whiskey. Her usually full cabinets were void of a single drop of liquor.

"Of course. The only thing touched."

Slamming the cabinet door shut, the tired woman slithered over to the staircase to the basement. She returned moments later with a full bottle of whiskey from a hidden stash in one hand and a short glass in the other. Evelyn flung her aching body onto the couch and flicked a light on as she poured herself a drink.

"Leave it to Winston to give a shit about my drinks but not about being in prison for three fucking months," she said to herself, closing her eyes and taking a long swig of her drink.

The taste shocked her taste buds - a familiar and much missed flavor. She refilled her glass two more times before deciding it was easier to just drink from the bottle. As the young Incredible daughter had predicted, Evelyn's money had gotten her an early release. That most certainly did not mean her brother didn't want to "teach her a lesson" by leaving her in prison to think about what she'd done to the super family and supers everywhere.

"Supers," Evelyn spat in disgust. She didn't need a psychologist to tell her that her deeply rooted hatred for supers was even more deeply rooted than she made out to be. She knew she didn't hate supers. She was a grieving orphan who wanted her father to have made a better decision. She knew Mr. Incredible wasn't the one who never showed up to save her father. She knew it wasn't Frozone's fault her father didn't make the right decision. She knew Elastigirl-

_Elastigirl._

Evelyn shook her head and took another swig from her drink. If the soul-crushing loneliness wasn't on her mind during her incarceration, there was only one other topic of interest. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried to despise the super, Evelyn couldn't get that southern accent out of her head. She couldn't forget the chemistry she noticed between them whenever they would have a drink together or discuss The Screenslaver's next move.

During the second month in prison, Evelyn had received a letter. The letter was addressed appropriately with her name being written in curly, beautiful letters. Before she even opened the letter, Evelyn knew who it was from. It sat in the corner of her cell for days of wondering what was inside. She finally ripped it open after intense thought and threw the envelope to the ground. Her eyes had scanned the page furiously, a bit disappointed at first at the lack of writing. When she finally read the page, her heart skipped a beat.

_"I forgive you._

_I'm sorry, Evelyn._

_\- Elastigirl."_

Tears welled up in her eyes as she crumbled up the paper and threw it across her cell. She was sorry? What the fuck did she have to be sorry for?

Evelyn took another swig of her drink and stood up to rummage through her bags. She pulled out the crumpled letter and sunk back down in the couch. Reading the words again, she shook her head.

"Who the fuck does she think she is!? What kind of hero complex-" Frantic knocking shook Evelyn out of her anger.

She looked up from the letter and set both her drink and the paper back down on her coffee table. With as much stealth as her tipsy body could muster, she snuck into the foyer, passing a ticking clock on her way over to the front door.

5:30 am.

Who could be here this early? Her heart began to race as her mind flashed to all of the supers she had probably pissed off in her plans to keep them illegal and feared. She grabbed a knife from the block on her way to the door, holding it up beside her head in a clenched fist. Evelyn threw the door open, prepared to strike. She gasped and jumped backwards as she saw that familiar red suit and auburn hair.

" _Elastigirl?"_ the inventor asked with her head tilted in confusion and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Elastigirl's normally perfectly in place hair was a mess and her eyes held a frantic look. Her uniform was ripped in more places than Evelyn could count and an angry looking bruise was settled on the super's forehead. She seemed out of breath and on the verge of collapsing.

"Eveleyn, please," the super strangled out in what sounded like a desperate, pleading sob.

Elastigirl attempted to move forward on her feet but sunk to her knees in weakness. Evelyn placed her hands on the super's shoulders, holding the rest of her up. She used all of her strength to get Elastigirl back onto her shaky feet as she kicked the front door shut. With a little bit of difficulty, Evelyn used herself as a crutch to get the near unconscious woman to the couch. The super curled in on herself on the couch, her breathing coming in short gasps.

"What the fuck is going on?" the inventor asked in anger, surprise, and confusion.

"Please…," Elastigirl pleaded breathlessly. "Didn't know where else to go."

With a moan of agony, the super tightened her grip around her own abdomen and gritted her teeth against the pain. "Lock your door," she spat out through the pain.

Evelyn jumped up without question and locked all four locks on her front door and closed any blinds that remained open. She returned to the couch to find the super had passed out. She sat down on the couch at her enemy's head, looking her body over. Clearly whatever happened was too much for her to handle. She wondered where the rest of the super family could be.

The bottle of whiskey had long since been abandoned across the living room on a table. Not only had the alcohol left Evelyn's mind momentarily, but her anger toward this specific hero flew out the window as well. She rubbed her hand through her hair and furrowed her brows in frustration.

 _This is exactly what happened last time_ , the inventor thought.

"What is it about you that makes me forget everything I've been working up all these years?" she asked out loud this time.

" _We could have been good friends,_ " Evelyn had said on the jet as she attempted to run away from all of her problems.

Thinking back, that's what she'd always done. She ran away from her feelings when her parents died. She ran away from her feelings when years of therapy sessions and different therapists tried to break through her walls to help her cope. She ran away from her feelings when she and Elastigirl had started to get closer. No one could ever be close to her.

Deep down, Evelyn was hoping something would blossom. The looks the two women gave each other formed a small glimmer of hope in the inventor. But, then again, who would want a cynical, broken drunk? What did she possibly have to give? Surely she'd find some way to fuck it up eventually.

_Better sooner than later._

But now, sitting on her couch, three quarters of a bottle of whiskey later, with the unconscious source of her recent focus, it was all coming back to her. The late night drinks. The little touches. The praise for her tech. The glances when neither of them thought the other was looking.

"Fuck!" Evelyn grunted in frustration, gripping her messy hair in her fingers and pulling it to relieve some of the stress and her emerging headache.

Elastigirl groaned, her face scrunching in pain. Evelyn shook her head, looking at the injured woman next to her. With a sigh of defeat, she stood up and trudged to the bathroom. She rummaged through the medicine cabinet for bandages, antibiotic cream, some ibuprofen, and a rag.

Back in the living room on the couch, Elastigirl remained in her agonized state. Evelyn approached the super, placing her hand on the auburn haired woman's forehead. The skin was cold and clammy, and Evelyn knew from her limited medical experience that the woman probably had an infection of some sort. She placed all of her supplies on the table next to them.

"Come on. You gotta get up and help me help you," Evelyn said with a shake to the unconscious woman's shoulder.

Elastigirl groaned once more. Her eyes began to flutter open. As she regained consciousness, the pain returned at full force. Elastigirl sat up with a gasp and held her arms to her abdomen.

"Son of a-" the super began before biting her tongue to keep her mouth shut. Instead, she took breaths as deep as possible through her nose, trying to control her reaction to her body feeling like it was on fire.

"Never took you for much of a swearer, Elastigirl," Evelyn spoke suddenly with a monotone yet playful comment.

"Desperate times," the super replied. She blinked her eyes to focus more on what was happening. Elastigirl had vague memories of ending up here at the last place she could possibly imagine seeking refuge.

"Clearly you were desperate. Never thought I'd see you again," Evelyn commented. Elastigirl was about to open her mouth and say something when the inventor cut her off. "But I'm not a complete idiot and I know there's a time and a place. We can rip each other apart later. Let's get you cleaned up."

Elastigirl removed her arms from clutching around her body. Edna was going to be pissed. For a suit that was supposed to be damn near indestructible, Elastigirl sure did a good job of proving the designer wrong. The suit was probably irreparable. Under each tear in the cloth was a deep, red tear in the super's skin. Evelyn's eyes roamed the tattered suit as Elastigirl's assessed the damage as well. Tearing her gaze away and clearing her throat, Evelyn grabbed the wet cloth.

"We should probably get you out of your suit," she said with a faint blush. Elastigirl narrowed her eyes and looked away with a wince, though she knew the inventor was right.

"Don’t worry, _Elastigirl_ ," Evelyn reassured, putting emphasis on the hero's name. "I just need to get you cleaned up. We can talk about other circumstances where I'd need you to undress later."

Their relationship before the big Screenslaver reveal had been nothing short of a flirtatious one. Evelyn hoped she could lighten the mood and make the super feel a little bit more comfortable with some playful banter. It seemed to work, too, as Elastigirl gingerly slid her arm out of her super suit with a smirk.

"Here, let me help."

Evelyn gently guided the tattered remains of the suit down to the super's waist, her hands grazing the flushed skin a few times. She noticed Elastigirl had grown goosebumps, but she'd chalk that up to the fever.

Once the suit was off of her top half, Evelyn winced at the extent of her company's injuries. Deep cuts littered her arms and shoulders. Elastigirl's ribs were bruised a painful looking black and purple. Evelyn definitely understood now why it was so hard for the super to breathe. Using her incredible powers of deduction, she concluded that what lay on the super's lower half was also pretty bad. Elastigirl sucked in a breath of pain and shifted uncomfortably. It snapped Evelyn out of her analysis of the super's body.

"Alright, alright. Let's see what we can do."

Evelyn gently cleaned all of Elastigirl's cuts, jumping and stopping when she would feel the super wince. "Keep going. I'm alright," she would say to the inventor every time she stopped. Evelyn bandaged the worst of the cuts after using the antibiotic cream to ensure infection didn't worsen.

"I uh…I'm not a doctor. I don't know what I can do about this," Evelyn said once she was finished, gesturing to Elastigirl's bruised ribs.

"It's alright. You've helped plenty, Evelyn," the super responded, laying herself back down on her back on the couch slowly with another groan. She closed her brown eyes and scrunched her nose up in pain again.

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened?" Evelyn asked, her arms leaning on her legs. Elastigirl opened her tired eyes and furrowed her brows in discomfort. She sucked in a breath that seemed to rattle in her chest.

"There's a new villain in town. Doesn't like me very much. Wanted to see me alone and make me help them or they'd hurt my kids." Evelyn watched as Elastigirl's face twisted and she began to cry as much as her damaged body would allow. "I think…I think everybody thinks I'm dead," she ended.

She broke into a strangled sob and curled in on herself once more. The inventor watched with pity. For someone who was a villain a few months ago, Evelyn sure could not stand to see any woman cry. "Empathy" or some shit, her mother would always call it. Said she had a real powerful feeling for it.

"Why? What motive do they have?" Evelyn asked. Elastigirl shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, tears continuing to fall silently.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Evelyn said. She got off the couch and kneeled on the floor next to the super's face. A bony hand ran through tangled auburn hair to brush it out of Elastigirl's bruised face. She reached up to remove the super's mask gently. Elastigirl's brown eyes were glimmering in unshed tears, and she had to have had Evelyn beat in the eye bag contest. She looked absolutely drained physically and mentally.

"I didn't think you'd help me," Helen said, sniffling some tears back. "I just…I didn't know where else I could go. Nobody would expect me to be here after what you did to me."

Evelyn sat up straight and looked away. Helen's small, delicate hand stretched out, grasped her cheek, and brought the inventor's gaze back to her.

"I told you I forgive you. No matter what you said to me, I know our friendship wasn't a lie," Helen said. She rested her head back onto the couch and her eyes began to grow heavy.

"You can't trust me," Evelyn said. She narrowed her brows and stood up, backing away slightly. "You know what happened last time. I can't be trusted."

"Mmm, don't sell yourself short," Helen slurred as exhaustion began to take hold. "I know you."

Evelyn's head hung low and she looked to the floor. "We don't know each other," she said, the bitterness creeping back into her tone. With a sigh and a sad glance at the super, she picked up a blanket and threw it in the air to let it cover Helen.

"We'll figure this out in the morning. Take some drugs. Get some rest."

Evelyn began to walk away when Helen sat up quickly. She gritted her teeth and grasped her side at the sudden movement. "Wait!" she cried. Evelyn turned to look back to her, confused. "You're not leaving, are you?"

"What? No. Just getting some coffee," Evelyn replied.

"Oh. Good. Alright." Helen calmly rested back down. She popped an ibuprofen in her mouth and dry swallowed it.

Evelyn got some coffee and sat herself down on the couch opposite of Helen. She took a sip, not letting her icy blue eyes remove themselves from the super she admired so much. Helen's eyes met Evelyn's and began to droop. "Sleep. Don't worry. I'll keep watch," Evelyn reassured her. "How ironic. It’s almost like I'm the vigilante tonight."

Helen sleepily chuckled. The medicine was beginning to take her throbbing body into a dull ache so that she could sleep somewhat comfortably. She was out in seconds.

Evelyn watched the super take in even breaths. Her face settled into a calm expression for the first time since she'd arrived. The inventor sighed and looked out the window behind her to see the sun peeking up from over the mountaintops. She brought her hand up to her mouth to rest her head upon.

"What am I gonna do?" she muttered into her hand to herself. She allowed her gaze to rest upon the curvy body on her couch, a blush painting her cheeks. She closed her eyes and looked away with a sigh. 


	2. Retribute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids decide to put their differences aside to help each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to work at 8 in the morning but I couldn't bring myself to just go to sleep and leave what I had unfinished. Getting a little more into what Evelyn's feeling for all of this. Next chapter will be a bit more plot focused.

Watching Helen sleep all night was mostly uneventful for Evelyn. The insomniac remained in the same seat she had settled in when the super fell into an ibuprofen-induced sleep.  She watched the unconscious woman's face contort slightly when a throb of pain would course through her damaged body. She watched how Helen's chest rose with a rattled breath and then fell back down with a wheeze. She watched how her cute, little nose scrunched up when-

 

_Woah, woah, woah. Wait a minute._

 

Evelyn shook her head to clear her thoughts. _Dangerous territory you're straying into, Evelyn._ She grabbed her sketch pad and pencil and began to sketch some rough drafts for ideas that had been plaguing her mind for the past two months.

 

There was no doubt about it when the question would present itself. Yes, Helen Parr was an attractive woman. Curvaceous. Sexy. Smart. Empathetic. Flexible _._ And would she dare say? _Incredible._ The tension between the two women during their time working together was thick enough to cut with a knife. There may have been a time or two when Evelyn was sure she would have ended the entire procedure to sweep Helen off her feet.

 

If it wasn't for that unnecessary suit. If it wasn't for that goddamn mask! If it wasn't for her father and mother ten feet in the ground in the cemetery over the fucking hill!

 

The inventor erased the drawing with fierce frustration, rubbing her forehead as her intrusive thoughts began to constrict in her chest.

 

If it wasn't for all of the visual triggers and concoction of pure malice Evelyn had been brewing for _years_.

 

Then, and only then, would she have had a chance to have one thing for once go her way. Would she have been happy for once in her life? Would she have everything she ever wanted?

 

 _We'll never know,_ Evelyn thought with nothing but disdain in her heart.

 

She looked at the clock.

 

11:22 am.

 

_Christ. Not again._

 

Yet another night stuck in her tortured thoughts and disassociating herself into literally losing time.

 

She wiped away a few frustrated tears and set back to drawing over the faded sketch of her failed idea. A circle here became an eye. A curve there became the shapely figure of the woman asleep on the couch in front of her. She drew the injured super in that moment: asleep, curled under the blanket, wearing one of her t-shirts she lent to the woman before she passed out, hair a tangled mess, a scratch on her cheek, and face relaxed.

 

It wasn't until Evelyn looked back up to finish getting the curve of Helen's jaw correct that she noticed the woman's face had contorted into a pained expression. The inventor placed her sketch pad aside and crawled off her couch to get to the super's side. Helen's fair skin had a sickly white tone and a sheen of sweat. Her breathing was slightly heavier than it had been before.

 

 _The meds must be wearing off_ , Evelyn concluded. She reached out to gently shake Helen's shoulder.

 

"Hey, Helen," she whispered. "Time to get up."

 

Helen shot up quickly with a gasp, startling Evelyn enough for her to fall backwards out of her crouched position onto her ass.

 

"Evelyn!" she cried.

 

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that for!?" Evelyn shouted as she climbed back to her position at eye level with the woman on the couch. "Calm down! You're safe! I'm right here!"

 

Helen's hazel eyes were wide and staring straight ahead as her fevered mind came down from whatever illusion had taken a hold on her brief consciousness. Her chest heaved with each pant. Her eyes flicked down to her arm when she felt the touch of the woman next to her.

 

"Hey, it's okay. Just breathe. Can't have you passing out on me for another six hours," Evelyn said with as much as a calming tone as her raspy voice could muster.

 

"I'm fine, I just…I don't know what happened," Helen panted, burying her face into her scratched hands.

 

"You're feverish. We need to get you some more meds and something to eat."

  
  
"I don't think I can eat anything right now," the super said with a look of discomfort as she rested back down on the couch.

 

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "You of all people, _Mom_ , should know you have to eat something to feel better."

 

The inventor hoisted herself to her feet and looked down at the sickly woman. "Sit tight. I'll make some soup or something."

 

Helen watched as Evelyn walked away and lost herself in thought.

 

The super had always felt comfortable around Evelyn from the very beginning. The inventor had created the new Elasticycle for her. She seemed just as enthusiastic about legalizing supers again as her brother did. She was always automatically easy to talk to. Helen was simply and instantly comfortable with Evelyn's presence.

 

She remained somewhat alert and ready to attack or flee at a moment's notice despite the natural comfort she felt even now. This woman still tried to kill her and ham her children. And yet, Helen still found herself leaning into her former enemy's touch and relaxing at the sound of her soothing words.

 

She could tell Evelyn was trying to stifle whatever emotion she was feeling toward the situation with her telltale sarcasm and blunt comments.

 

Evelyn returned with a steaming bowl of soup. Her hands were touching the bowl as little as possible and she was rushing to set the bowl on the coffee table. She got the bowl to the table without spilling a drop and shook her hands from the excessive heat.

 

"Might wanna let that cool a bit," Evelyn said as she sat at the end of the couch at the super's feet. She clenched her hands together and looked away.

 

Helen gingerly scooted herself up into a sitting position and took a look at the inventor's body language. She could tell anxiety had taken over, her being awake for the first time in hours being the likely culprit.

 

"I want to thank you for taking me in and giving me a place to sleep, Evelyn," she said. Her slight lisp and Southern accent cut through the silence and made the inventor jump at the sudden sound. "I know it can't be easy to have me here. But I meant what I said. No matter what happened, I felt safe enough to come here and seek your help, so that has to prove something to you."

  
  
Evelyn processed the super's words. She rolled her eyes in feign annoyance. "Oh, spare me the hero speech. What was I supposed to do? Kick you back out the door? You practically collapsed into my house." She looked away with a slight blush.

 

Helen picked up her soup and smiled into the bowl as she went to take a sip. Her taste buds were pleasantly surprised by the rich flavor of the liquid.

 

"Evelyn, this is _delicious_."

 

"W-what?" the inventor questioned, her blush deepening. "I know how to cook. It's not that hard."

  
  
Helen smiled at the flustered woman. "I just never expected it from you."

  
  
"What? You don't think I can do everything? Didn't you learn before not to underestimate me, _Elastigirl_?"

 

The super smirked slightly and decided to veer the conversation off that path before it made it any more uncomfortable for either of the women or turned into Evelyn making any self-deprecating comments. "I'm not used to having people cook for me. I'm usually the one doing the cooking."

 

"Yeah well, it's time to step out of mom mode and hero mode for once in your life," Evelyn responded with her arms crossed.

 

Helen hummed into her bowl and finished the rest of the soup eagerly. She hadn't realized how hungry she really was and didn't expect herself to be able to hold any food down with how awful she felt. Her entire body was aching and her head still felt like it was on fire despite the pleasant change in the situation's overall feel.

 

"I don't know how you expect me to help you with whatever's going on," Evelyn exclaimed suddenly through the silence as if finally getting the words off her chest. "Why did you come to me?"

 

Helen placed the bowl back on the coffee table. She remained silent as she sorted through her words to choose the correct ones. "I don't know. You seem to have all the ideas, Evelyn."

 

She turned her gaze to the other woman. "This person after me was going to hurt my kids. I barely got away. I tried everything I could think of and I couldn't even lay a finger on him."

 

Helen's voice was growing steadily louder and more upset as she continued. "He came out of nowhere and targeted me specifically and I don't know why or what to do. I need your help."

 

Her hazel eyes were pleading with Evelyn's blue ones. Evelyn narrowed her brows and looked away and lost herself in thought. The living room was quiet except for the chirping of birds in the trees outside her large home.

 

"I don't deserve your trust," she said finally. "I got you to trust me and briefly had things going my way. I fucked it up and who's to say I won't do it again?"

 

"Why do you think you're capable of nothing but evil?" Helen asked, her voice so incredibly gentle and motherly it made Evelyn want to scream. "You truly believed what you were doing was the right thing. You may have executed your plan in a negative way, but I would never undermine the validity of your feelings. You believed you were doing what was right, and there's nothing wrong with that."

 

Evelyn shook her head and stood up. It was all too much. She didn't deserve another chance. She didn't deserve this incredible woman caring for her in this moment despite her own pain.

 

A hand touched her shoulder and she flinched and turned around. Helen had gotten off the couch and was standing on her shaky feet. She gently wrapped her arms around Evelyn's body.

 

"Please allow yourself to be able to accept my forgiveness," Helen said quietly into Evelyn's ear. "You deserve so much more than you allow yourself to receive."

 

Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut and tightly grasped Helen's arms. She allowed herself a brief moment to enjoy the embrace before she pulled away and lowered Helen back to the couch before she collapsed again. With a small sniffle and a wipe of her eyes, she sat on the couch next to Helen and took a deep breath.

 

"What are you, my therapist?" Evelyn joked to veer the exchange's attention off of her brief tears. "I owe you a lot for what I've done. Consider this the first step in me returning the favor for saving me from the plane."

  
  
Helen smiled and coughed into her hand. "Alright, Deavor. Show me how wrong I was to underestimate you again."

  
  
Evelyn cracked a smirk and handed the woman a Tylenol she'd put in her pocket from the kitchen. "What are we working with here? Who is this grand villain who gave Elastigirl a run for her money more than Screenslaver?"

 

Helen gratefully accepted the pills and dry swallowed them with ease.

 

"He calls himself Retribute."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback so far! Please continue to let me know what you think. I haven't written in awhile and I feel like I'm rusty and need to know if I'm doing alright. Thanks, guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! I was going to make it a oneshot but I think I can keep it going for a decently detailed story. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!


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